ArtScene: German Expressionism, McQueen, Bacon, Horses

New York, London, Geneva

New York. It's all about imagery isn't it? There's something extra special at the moment. Something
you're not likely to see again at MoMA. It's German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse.

Wonderful drawings and prints of this large and uncompromising collection
of expressionist artists whose strong imagery reflected the turmoil of the war
years in Europe. Kokoshka, Kandinsky, Klee, Franz Marc, Schiele Emil Nolde and
more and more and more.

Emil Nolde, turned to watercolours when the Nazis threatened to kill him
if he continued painting. (Makes softies of us all.). He carried on secretly
producing the most wonderful collection of vibrant -- not wishy washy at all -- watercolours
throughout the remainder of the war, before returning to oil painting.

There is a strong sense of the human condition. Uninhibited sexuality. Suffering
with all the anxieties of a society on the brink. A tough underlying style, which can be uneasy on the modern
eye. This is a show that maps a raw and disturbing time. I can't help but draw parallels to what's
happening in parts of the world right now. Brilliant but chilling. But only until 11 July.

Then to Fifth Avenue and a brilliant combination. The Met has Andrew
Bolton's Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. Title of the year for this retrospective
collection of nearly 200 pieces from McQueen's 19-year career sadly cut short by his suicide in February
2010. Here's fashion as a form of
installation art. When does a hoof become a shoe? Sacking turned to gold.
McQueen the alchemist. It's
another success for Bolton who at the end of the 1990s was one of the stars at
London's Victoria & Albert Museum. Until 31 July.

London. Beautiful sunshine in the park and the shadow of Mr President's
armoured limo, The Beast, went by Tuesday. Seems a heavy way of going to play
table tennis - that's what he was doing. Talking of big, the word in this
nation's capital is that Donald Hess, the yodelling rich Swiss wine producer, is
sending Francis Bacon's Study for
Portrait to Christie's next
month. Bacon and Hess had at least one thing in common - good wine. Bacon was
no slurper. He knew what he was drinking especially the finest Chateau Petrus.
The portrait, a dark, disturbing image will probably get an £11million estimate.
I'd bet a bottle of the '47 it'll reach nearly double that.

Geneva. Clutching a must-read-again Hotel
du Lac I am totally absorbed in the impressive exhibition of horse painting
Le cheval dans la peinture at the Galerie
Charly Bailly, 10 Rue de l'Hotel de Ville. Horses have always been popular with the British but here we
can see the French, Italians and Swiss affection for the subject also. Featuring
such painters as Alfred de Dreux (1810-1860), Jacques-Laurent Agasse
(1767-1849) and the French abstract painter Aime Felix Del Marle. You don't have to love horses to enjoy
this exhibition. Tally ho!!

Ai Weiwei is still in prison. Tell someone.

ArtScene quote of the week: "If a
man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with
doubts, he shall end in certainties"
(Francis Bacon).

Fiona Graham-Mackay, is London's newest royal portrait painter. She is also recently back from painting in the Pakistan-Afghan border. She studied at London's Royal College of Art, had a studio in Paris before returning to the UK to paint and teach in London, Spain and Italy. Her next assignments are…